children

LOVEly guest post by Jocelyn from the little room of style

Hello everyone, I am Jocelyn from the blog the little room of style. It is lovely to be joining you here whilst Madame Love is enjoying the special moments of being a new mother. When Elodie asked me to guest blog, I was honored to be a part of the blog I always find so much inspiration from. I am happy to be here and hope you enjoy a story I hold very close to my heart. Dream {Big} like a Kid Again…..

When I close my eyes and replay the memories from my childhood, a gentle tear streams down my face. This little droplet of water represents the pure happiness that fills my heart when I am reminded of how I lived my days as a child with my sister, Jenny. Living and growing up on a three hundred acre ranch in Central Florida brought endless opportunities to dream and create whatever we wanted at any moment. One thing we had more than ever was the capacity to dream, and dream really big.

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I remember I had a dream of opening a shop just like the ones in the shopping mall. I carefully thought about what I would sell, how I would engage with my customers, and most importantly, how I would make money to support my horse habit. When I wasn’t playing shop in my room I was tending to my horses and let me tell you, that is a full time job. My little room of style was born one afternoon on a rainy day when the horses were fed and enjoying the rain on their backs. I remember this day so vividly, I was eight years old and my heart was bursting with excitement when I realized I could make my dream come true of having my shop. With concentration I carefully curated my room, there was a section for clothing, accessories, and furniture. Thankfully my room was quite sizeable! I hung the clothes from the ceiling fan and turned the spin speed on very low, you know, like the rotating racks in a clothing store. My closet doors were great for those extra special pieces I wanted to showcase. I had a vintage school desk with a calculator and a faux cash register with monopoly money inside. I would invite my sister and her friends to come to shop as well. I had imaginary customers too; they were very nice and always had nice things to say about my petite shop. I always put customer service at the top of my priority list; no one was ever treated unkind. I loved my little shop and have a picture of it in my mind forever.

Wouldn’t it be great to be able to automatically dream like a kid again without the constant worry of “is this a silly idea”? or “will this even work”? I don’t ever remember thinking my shop would not work or be possible. I believe my little shop was born purely from my passion for creating things. The ranch taught me how to create and tend to what matters to me. It is hard to believe that vegetable crops and horses could teach me the principles I hold in my heart but it is true.

Dreaming like a kid again is something I remind myself of every single day. As an adult I know a lot through experience just like you. I tend to talk myself out of some things because they seem too scary or I feel they may fail. When this happens, I take myself right back to my little room of style and then I realize I already have one. I call it my blog, The Little Room of Style.

I wish you all a wonderful day and remember to dream big, like a kid again.

Jocelyn

Many thanks to Elodie for allowing me the opportunity to share with you my favorite story from my childhood. 

Dala horse - A Swedish tradition

Hello everyone, Last week-end was midsommar in Sweden, so I decided to write a blogpost about a pretty souvenir I brought with my from Stockholm last February, when I attended the Meet the Blogger Conference. You can read my other blogpost about Stockholm here, here and there. The little souvenir is called dalahästen in Swedish and Dala horse or Dalecarlian horse in English. I was in the small log-cabins deep in the forests during the long winter nights in front of the fire, that the ancestor of the Dala horse was born. Using simple tools, generally a knife, toys were carved for the children. The fact, that many horses were made was only natural, because the horse to them was invaluable. In the older days, the Dala horse was mostly a toy for children, but nowadays, it is a symbol for the kingdom of Sweden. The earliest reference of wooden horses for sale is from 1624. The pattern of today is about 150 years old and it reflects a style of painting known as "Kurbits". In 19th century, Sticka-Erik Hansson introduced the technique of painting with two colours in the same brush. Even today the Dala horses are painted this traditional way. Today's Dala horse is still a handicraft article, made out of pine, and at least nine different persons have contributed with their skills to create the horse. At the beginning, I wanted to buy a black horse or maybe a blue one from the flea-market:

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But then, I had to choose a traditional red one, as it much better stands for the swedish style - So I found this one at Grannas:

red_DalahästenAnd now it lives on my bookshelf in my living room, in front of my red books:

Dalahästen_on_the_bookshelf

Granna A. Olsson Hemslöjd AB (were I found my horse) was founded in 1922 and is today the oldest company making Dalecarlian horses. Website: www.grannas.com

Speak to you soon. xxx Elodie